Behold Beauty

The beauty of black and this Ethiopian woman in all her luminosity offer marvels to behold. Upon seeing the tiny dots painted on her skin, my mind turned to stars. Glistening in the nighttime sky of her face, they suggested to me a constellation. Her eyes, glowing with steady intensity, embodied an entire galaxy of emotion.

Following and trusting my instincts developed over decades as a photographer, I knew the black-and-white format would increase the image’s power. Cerebral analysis can be strangulating if an artist gets caught in the moment with over-intellectualizing a technical choice. During my time interacting with people generously sharing themselves with me, I am free, embodied in moments of connection while photographing. It is only later, sometimes months after making an iamge, that I might be able to articulate the essentiality of a photograph’s given features.

In this case, the enormous black void to the woman’s left compels a viewer to drop the natural tendency to look primarily at the center of a photograph. Here, the negative space draws the eye to the left with irresistible energy. Once that happens, the star-like dots, the beaded necklace, even the piercing shard in her lower lip circle, swirl, or points to her face and transfix the viewer. The beauty of black in all its mystery is mesmerizing; as are the stars within.